Mahjong playing and eye-hand coordination in older adults—a cross-sectional study

[Purpose] Eye-hand coordination declines with age, but physical activity is known to slow down the degeneration. Playing mahjong involves lots of eye-hand coordination. The objective was to investigate the relationship between playing mahjong and eye-hand coordination in older adults using a fast finger-pointing paradigm. [Subjects and Methods] Forty-one community dwelling older adults aged sixty or above were recruited by convenience sampling in this cross-sectional study. They were tested on their ability to point quickly and accurately 1) toward a stationary visual target and 2) toward a moving visual target. [Results] The mahjong players demonstrated significantly better end-point accuracy when pointing with their non-dominant hand toward a stationary target. They also demonstrated significantly faster movement of their dominant hands; shorter reaction times and better end-point accuracy when pointing with their non-dominant hands toward a moving target. [Conclusion] Mahjong players have better eye-hand coordination than non-players. Playing mahjong could usefully be introduced to older adults as a leisure time activity.